With billions of users and searches every day, Google is the most well-known and complete search engine in the world.

Of course, Google is not the only one! 🥳

Before Google, we had Yahoo, Lycos, and AltaVista, and today we have so many alternatives such as Bing, You, Yep, Openverse, DuckDuckGo, etc.

Click here for 21 Great Search Engines You Can Use Instead Of Google.

We focus on Google because, for its popularity and dominance, it was turned into a verb: a neologism that means searching for information on the web. 

Today, if you say you are googling something, you’ll be almost universally understood. In fact, it was even elected the most useful word of 2002!

And the thing is, most of us use Google a lot more than we realize. Even in a relaxed conversation with friends, if a stubborn question or doubt arises, someone in the group will quickly pull out their cell phone to ask Google.

But how many of us are actually knowledgeable in using search engines effectively and efficiently? How many of us waste time and effort reading through unhelpful or misleading results or miss out on important data because it’s hidden and harder to find?

As professional translators, we use search engines on a daily basis as effective tools to search for terminology or validate information.

In general, you can learn new things and expand your knowledge by accessing a vast amount of information on various topics, from news and facts to tutorials and opinions. Googling almost always provides you with the information you need quickly and efficiently, but it’s not infallible nor are its results 100% reliable.

Here are some reasons why it’s important to google the right way:

• You can improve your digital literacy and critical thinking skills by evaluating the quality, credibility, and bias of the information you find online.
• You can save time and effort by using the right keywords, operators, and filters to narrow down your search results and get the most relevant ones.
• You can solve problems and answer questions by finding reliable sources, evidence, and data that support your arguments and decisions.

If you want to improve your googling skills and get the best results possible, you need to know how to use search engines effectively and efficiently. 

Keep reading to find out how to optimize your search queries, refine your search results, and discover the new features and functions that Google has to offer, as well as tips and tricks that will make you a Rock Star at googling!

Do’s and Don’ts:

• Do: use quotation marks to get an exact match for a term or phrase, such as [“how to cook pesto”]. This will tell Google to only return results that contain that exact word or phrase, without any variations or synonyms. Using quotation marks is especially helpful when you are looking for a specific title, name, quote, lyric, or term that has multiple words or a common word. For example, if you search for [the office] without quotation marks, you will get results about office supplies, office furniture, office software, or office jobs. But if you search for [“the office”], you will get only results about the popular TV show.
• Do: use operators to refine your search. One of the most powerful ways to improve your search is to use operators. These are special symbols or words that you can add to your search query to modify or filter your results. Here are some of the most common and useful ones:

• Do: Use Google’s features. One of the most fun and helpful ways to improve your Google search is its many features that can help you find information, answer questions, solve problems, learn new things, and even have fun. Some of these are built into the search box, while others are accessible from the tabs or menus on the search results page. Here are some of the most popular and useful features Google has to offer:

• Don’t: use too many words or too few words in search queries. Using too many words can make your search too specific and narrow, which will reduce the number and quality of the results, while using too few words can make your search too broad and vague, which will increase the number and irrelevance of the results.

For example, if you search for [how do I bake a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and sprinkles], you will get very few results that match your exact query, and most of them will be from blogs or forums that may not be reliable. On the other hand, if you search for [cake] only, you will get millions of results that cover all kinds of cakes, flavors, recipes, occasions, and images, and most of them will not be relevant or useful for what you are looking for.

The ideal number of words to use in a Google search depends on what you are searching for and how specific or general you want to be. A good rule of thumb is to use between 3 to 5 words that describe the main topic, concept, or question that you have. For example, if you want to learn how to bake a chocolate cake, a good search query would be [chocolate cake recipe], which should give you plenty of results from reputable sources and websites.

• Don’t: use punctuation or common words in search queries. Punctuation and common words are usually ignored by Google and don’t affect your results. Punctuation includes symbols such as commas, periods, colons, semicolons, brackets, parentheses, etc. Common words include articles, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, etc. For example, if you search for [who is the president of the United States?], Google will ignore the question mark and the words “the” and “of,” and it will treat your query as [who is president United States], which will give you the same results. 

Similarly, if you search for [how to make pizza (easy recipe)], Google will ignore the parentheses and handle your search as [how to make pizza easy recipe], which will also provide the same results.

Oh, and to be really proficient, don’t forget to explore these two fabulastic features:

🤩 Google Search Education: Google’s educational site offering lessons, activities, lesson plans and assessments for teaching and learning about Google Search.

🤩 Google Inside Search: Google’s official blog offering news, updates, stories and insights about Google Search.

Google is an incredible and useful search engine that can help you find information, answer questions, solve problems, learn new things and have fun. However, Google is also complex and sophisticated, which requires knowledge, skills and creativity.

You are now ready to google like a Rock Star! 🌟 🎸 👨🏻‍🎤

If you want to learn more about how to Google like a pro, you can check out these resources:

Google Search – What is Google Search and How Does it Work

Search Better: Introduction to Searching Online

We hope this article has been useful and interesting for you! 😊

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